biker and motorbike ready to ride

The mother of seven kids, her family was the apple of her eye, and she reveled in having them all under one roof whenever she could.

“She just really took joy in spending time with her loved ones,” her daughter Kathleen Freeman said.

She loved to sew, and cook, and she loved her husband Frank until the day he died.

Her life wasn’t always idyllic, but where it wasn’t, she took joy in helping others and had a village of people who cared deeply for her.

It was in her late 60s when things started to change.

A pivotal moment came when Tobin was faced with a parking lot full of cars and realized, with a pang of fear, that she had no idea where her car was.

That’s something that happens to a lot of people, Freeman said. But for her mother, it took a lot of time and effort and help from others to find her car.

“She couldn’t remember what she had for breakfast, but could go back 30 years and tell you of a memory,” Freeman said. “She’d make toast then put it in the microwave until smoke rolled.

“We started noticing different things like that.”

She was diagnosed with dementia in her late 60s, and though she continued living at home for some time, she was eventually moved into a nursing home.

She passed away in 2005, at the age of 78.

But the memory of this beautiful woman, pure of heart and dutiful to her family until the end, lingers on in those that had the privilege to love her.

In her honor, her family kickstarted the Ride to Remember, an annual motorcycle ride through the scenic streets of the Adirondacks to raise money for local adult care centers.

It started with just a few people in 2006, and Freeman always told herself that when people stopped coming, she’d stop planning the event.

“I keep saying, ‘I’ll keep doing this until it starts to fall off,’” she said. “But I can honestly say every year we’ve really raised a significant amount of money.”

Tobin’s family and friends have managed to raise upwards of $200,000 over the past 13 years. Last year, they used some of the surplus funds to purchase a bus for the Third Age Adult Day Center.

“We’re really proud of the fact that this money stays local,” Freeman said.

This year’s Ride to Remember returns July 14, rain or shine.

Registration starts at 9 a.m. day-of at the American Legion Post 1619 in Morrisonville, with a suggested donation of $10 per person. The ride starts there at 10:30 a.m. and returns around 1:30 p.m., where a party is slated to begin immediately afterward.

“We usually have as many, if not more, non-bikers,” Freeman told The Sun.

Courtesy of some local businesses, there’ll be prizes on auction and for a raffle. Food will be served, a live band will play and more.

“The support has been just great,” she said.

Find out more on the Ride to Remember Facebook page or by calling Freeman at 518-569-0014.